Ishmael | Dead Puppet Society

Dead Puppet Society have crafted a captivating, live sci-fi extravaganza through miniature sets, live puppetry and a story that ended up really capturing me after a slow start. As a massive fan of all things sci-fi I was very excited to see Ishmael and very curious to see how such an effects heavy genre would translate into live theatre. 

This image + cover image: Dean Hanson

The stage was set up in front of a large screen with two miniature set ups on either side of it, each placed in front of a green screen. There were cameras streaming the miniature sets live onto the big screen in the middle and any actors not currently in a scene would move them around as if there was a camera tracking action through this dystopian dead earth landscape. It felt like I was watching a movie and along with a fantastic score by Bec Sandridge, it blended into a very cinematic experience. 

The story starts with the title character Ishmael making her way up from earth's toxic surface and above the clouds to get aboard Captain Ahab's ship and escape a band of violent freedom fighters. The sets were used magnificently and Ishmael wandered through dreary alleyways perched on top of mountains and big shipping ports hauling cargo up into space. It was this section of the story however that was very slow for me. I felt as though I was waiting for something to happen all the way up until Ishmael actually boarded Ahab's ship, which was about four or five scenes in. Personally I would have engaged with the story much quicker if the whole set up section was much tighter, but this wasn’t an issue for the rest of the story.

Image: Dean Hanson

The other major use of puppetry happened when the three main characters went out to mine asteroids. They wheeled out what sort of looked like exercise equipment. Grey seats with a set of handles above it, and then a long metal arm that ended to what I eventually realised were more miniatures of the ships they were flying. They hauled down on the handles and the metal arms holding the ships were counter weighted at the back so the miniatures stayed relatively balanced in front of them. 

I cannot stress enough how awesome I thought these were. The cast was able to wheel around each other on these contraptions, and the screen moved behind them like there was a camera following. It meant that they were able to use the action scenes as character moments in a really captivating way that wouldn't have been accomplished if they were just using straight projection or just having the characters sitting in static pilots chairs. I think the design was truly innovative and I feel inspired watching such an interesting and engaging use of the space. It felt a little bit like holding a toy ship up to the sky with one eye closed but scaled way up. 

I loved the interactions between Ishmael and Ahab and I thought it was really interesting how they had chosen to adapt Moby Dick. I thought that making the right arm that Ahab lost to the whale her brother was a really good choice and it made the parallels between Ahab and Ishmael very clear. Watching these two characters respond so differently to their respective traumas was really interesting, especially given the similarities between the two of them. 

Image: Dean Hanson

There were also some very strong critiques of capitalism throughout the story. I liked seeing how this corporation-run, dead earth had shaped the main characters into ruthless, selfish people. They eventually work through that and collectively heal enough that Ishmael is able to accept help without putting a hand to her gun. I thought it was an interesting choice to call her a climate refugee in the advertising for the show because I didn’t really see this as a story about climate change at all. The dead earth was really just a backdrop and I thought Ishmael wasn’t really escaping climate destruction, but running away from grief, trauma and her own shattered expectations of success. Ishmael's character arc overall was very satisfying to watch and the whole conclusion to the story was explosive and cinematic. 

Dead Puppet Society has created something truly spectacular with Ishmael. It captured my inner child and had a wonderful sense of play in its sets and puppets, and paired it with some really grounded critiques of capitalism and the false security presented by constant competition. I can’t wait to see what this company does next.